Melbourne January 2020
Australia, where do I start..

Well as everyone knows, I came straight from India this time.
And it was quite a culture shock to be back in normal civilization. Everything is so organized here so well arranged and in India you have to do it all by yourself. In the other hand it’s also good to be back, able to wear shorts, tops and dresses without people approaching you constantly, ma’am one selfie please? Or even worse, Aunti Aunti, one selfie please what basically means ‘’older’’ woman..
(yes I know, slowly entering the 30’s..)

So I started my journey in Melbourne this time, Me, Solen the France girl decided to go to Melbourne first because the tickets were a lot cheaper to fly to Melbourne rather then to fly to Sydney.
We booked our first hostel: Melbourne hostel in St Kilda and Solen waited there for me to come in, she arrived a couple days before me.
It was so good to see her again after a full year, we’ve met in Peru while we both worked in the Wild Rover Hostel in Cusco for 3 weeks.
So when seeing her again it felt like good old times.

We decided to chill for a couple of days and start looking for a job the week after. We actually wanted to travel up to Sydney but because Solen was on a short budget we decided to stick around Melbourne for a few months. In the meantime I got my RSA and started looking for a shared house. I already changed hostels once because the Melbourne Hostel is probably the worst hostel that I’ve seen so far..

So the shortcut of the story goes as following: I got my RSA, found a shared house and Solen got sort of home sick and decided after 2 weeks to leave Melbourne for a roadtrip to Adelaide and bought herself a one way ticket back to France..

So now you see, it literally never goes as planned.

But do we mind? Nope. She really felt homesick and missed her friends and family so I can only be happy for her that she’s somewhere where she feels comfortable.

Not that long after she left I left my hostel to move into my shared house! I felt kind of sad, because my hostel was soo good! For everyone who’s looking for an awesome (longterm) hostel in Melbourne, go live at The Lords Lodge in St Kilda. But I also looked very much forward to have my own room again and to have some privacy. I did not had a private room since I left Holland in October.. so that’s been almost 4 months of sharing your bedroom…

Anyways, I got over excited about my room because it appeared really good but also this place turned out a little different then expected. I had to buy everything my self when moving in.. my own sheets, blankets, pillow cases, pillows, pots, pans, sponges, dishwashing soap.. and here it comes… even my toilet paper. Once I got into an argument with my housemate because I brought someone over to watch a movie and he got really upset about that, because he doesn’t like to see strangers inside his house. People don’t socialize here and they don’t talk to each other or they simply don’t speak English. So next time I’m going to be a little more carefully about where to live and who my housemates are going to be. Also Preston the suburb where I live is quite far from the CBD.. And there’s literally nothing in Preston it self so yeah haven’t been smart picking this location, but at least I have a private room.

I currently work in Ivanhoe in a bistro and guess what, that’s even further out of the CDB.. But I applied for a job in the CBD and they were only willing to give me 15 dollar an hour and that’s way below minimum. And in Ivanhoe I get 20 dollar cash in hand and that’s not too bad.

It’s March the 3rd now and I’ve been in Melbourne since the 14th of January so nearly 2 months. I’ve been back to the Grampians for the 2nd time (I’ve also been there in 2017) and i’ve seen a few beaches on the Great Ocean Road. Met Glenn, one of my friends who gave me a free bike to use during my staying in Melbourne. Met tons of other great souls, went for a surf yesterday and I probably have a concussion now because I got slapped in the face with my own surfboard and tumbled back to shore while hitting the ground but I’m still alive and I actually really enjoyed it so I’ll be back on the board very soon!

In the beginning I told everyone that I didn’t liked Melbourne at all. Just a big city nothing for me.. There is no good beach here at all, probably St Kilda’s beach is the worst beach I’ve seen so far in Australia. But I’m slowly starting to appreciate Melbourne. I’ve met such great people, so many good laughs. And I’m finally starting to know my way around. No need to constantly look on google maps anymore, yay. It actually kind of starts to feel like home and I’m not that keen anymore on leaving. But the real reason for me to get out is the weather, I just love a good beach. Playing volleyball, having a nice swim at night, weather that is consistent and lots of hippy vibes. That time will come soon.

The other day on a vegan market I ran into a vegan chef and we gathered people together thanks to Facebook and ended up throwing a dinner party and having drinks at a game hall where another friend of ours works.

And just today I’ve posted a shout on the Melbourne’s backpackers facebook page if anyone would be keen to travel up to Sydney with me and Byron Bay because it’s just getting to cold and rainy here.. Someone replied that she just bought her own van and is looking for travel companions. So I told my boss today that I’m going to stop working for him on the 26th and my lease stops on the 26th as well. Pretty glad that I only have a few more weeks to go as I’m not getting along with 1 of my housemates that is also my chef at work.. After the 26th I’m going to book a hostel in either St Kilda, my old hostel to catch up with some old friends, or in the CBD. Just staying still the 31st to finally be able to explore Melbourne’s nightlife. And after we’re going to chase the sun and catch up with some friends in Sydney and live the happy hippy life in Byron Bay. Yayy

So excited! Ready for new adventures~









Pandemic

So that turned out a little different then expected! Who would have expected that the whole world would be affected by the corona virus. It’s a world wide pandemic that no one had seen coming. I can still remember a couple of weeks ago that I was just laughing at the whole situating, the funny images on Instagram with the corona beer bottles. I’m pretty sure everyone knows what I’m talking about.

Me and Charlie before we took off on our road trip we kind of new what was coming. We knew that all the borders all over Australia were closing, only the border between Victoria and Melbourne stayed open. But I canceled my room and my job so if this road trip was not going to happen I basically became homeless and unemployed. Although I know enough people that would have offered me a place to stay for a few days but it’s not a nice feeling that you are almost ‘’forced’’ to stay at your friends place instead of having the opportunity to stay in a hostel. But most hostels are closed too.

So we got in the car with the 3 of us but we drove straight to Wollongong without pulling over. A 8 hour drive to visit friends of Charlie that she met in Sweden. When we arrived we had a couple of beers and Caroline the one with the van parked up on their loan and took off early morning to pick up some from Sydney, she had to make it to Queensland before the border was closing that night 12.00pm. Me and Charlie stayed in Wollongong.

We were only going to stay for 1 or 2 nights but ended up staying for a full week, figuring out how to get back to Melbourne. We wanted to go back by train but that will cost us at least 100$p.p Emma and Ciaran who lived in Wollongong came up with the idea to have a look at a website were they relocate campervans. We had a look and there was a van that needed to be relocated from Sydney to Melbourne. We paid like 5$ a day for the rental cost and they gave us 50$ for fuel and the rest we had to pay our self. We had a maximum amount of kilometers that we could drive but it was definitely the cheapest option.

So on our 7th day we thanked Emma and Ciaran for their amazing hospitality, really enjoyed our staying there and we got into the train that brought us to Sydney, got into an Uber and arrived at the pick up location.

On the way we found out that literally all the camping grounds, national parks and some beaches were closed. Due to that we decided to skip the blue mountains and that we were just going to do some beach ‘’hopping’’. In about 2 nights we drove al the way back to Melbourne and we camped on random places hoping that the police wouldn’t fine is for ‘’wild camping’’. We had still seen some beautiful beaches and did a few hikes but its not that enjoyable when your not meeting other travelers on the road.

When we got back in Melbourne I spend the first week at Ryan’s place while looking for something else. Because of the virus everyone left their apartments to live with the parents again or the flew back to their home county, what basically means lots of available apartments! Because of that I currently live in a penthouse with shared balcony on the 22nd floor, private room with private balcony, shared bathroom and 2 kitchen areas for 210$p.w. in the middle of the CBD! Not bad hey.

But the current situation in Melbourne is pretty serious, not that we have so many cases here but the rules are pretty strict. If you leave the house it should only be under 3 circumstances: 1. Groceries 2. Exercise 3. Work. If you exercise outside you’re not aloud to be with more then 2 people, same for doing groceries. My housemate was reading a book a couple of days ago in the park (weather was great) and the police asked her to leave. If you gather with more then 2 people (excluding household) inside your home the police can come and check on you and fine you with a $1650 dollar fine per person!

So it´s the 26th of April right now so that means I’m also a year older (26, on the 19th) yay.
Well this was the weirdest bday ever. Not aloud to invite friends, no drinks nothing... But I baked a vegan carrot cake and ate it with my housemates. Got to see a friend and when I came to his house there were balloons everywhere! He decorated the house and got me a little present and sang a song for me. So sweet, that really made me feel loved. So the birthday wasn’t that bad after all.

Time is ticking.. a few more days to go.. I’m sad, happy, angry, in a roller-coaster of emotions these days. Wonder why? Because I’m going home.

Home? Yes home.. it’s the hardest decision I’ve made in a long time. But I’ve been unemployed now for nearly 1.5 month and I’m spending nearly 1000$ or more per month. Without an income its going fast.. I wanted to study here and I even paid to get my diploma translated and signed up for an English exam to enter a university but without work there no way I can afford it.

I thought about all the pros and cons and decided that I want to start building a life right now. It could’ve been Australia but due to the situation I’m going to give Holland another chance.
I’m flying home on the 29th for good. I’m going to apply for a study in Holland next year and I’m going to move to another city and build a life. No more travelling for a while. I want to settle, make friends that stay and decorate my own place without having the intention to move after a while.

I’m coming home.

Geschreven door NLD-wanderlust